Sister, Guardian A-Z
by JustMakeLeftTurns
Summary: A series of drabbles based on the Wither Falls AU by misshannahjanelee on tumblr. Current chapter: Boots. When you're the Queen of the Forest, you don't just need the crown. You need the shoes. Too bad your shoes don't last long.
1. Anchor

**A/N: You WILL need to read the Wither Falls AU on tumblr to understand this! It's by misshannahjanelee.**

 **Disclaimer:** Gravity Falls does not belong to me.

 **Anchor:** Dipper anchors Mabel in her lonely immortality.

* * *

Two weeks. Maybe. Or has it been more? Less, perhaps? Mabel isn't sure anymore. She doesn't have a watch. She's forgotten how many times the sun has risen and set; she isn't smart like Dipper. She hadn't thought to mark the days down. Not that it really matters anymore. Time doesn't matter for her.

It's quiet. A deer stands a little ways from her, but there is no sound. Maybe she's gone deaf. Mabel leaps to her feet from her position in front of the Tree – Dipper's Tree – and laughs. Her voice, hoarse from use, sounds foreign to her ears. They are foreign to the deer, as well, for the animal runs off.

"La la la la!" Mabel sings at the top of her lungs, traces of broken laughter still there. She runs forward, trips on a rock, but catches herself and straightens up as though she did it on purpose. "And Mabel gets a perfect score! The crowd cheers!"

Her voice dies down, and the forest is quiet again. There are a few squirrels peeking out at her, and there is a gentle summer breeze that rustles the tree leaves, but it's still quiet.

She doesn't like it.

She wants to go home.

Mabel hasn't been more than a few yards away from Dipper the entire two weeks-or-more-or-maybe-less-who-knows. None of the forest creatures has ventured near them. She's not sure if it's because they sense something evil or because they just don't care, but she's been left alone.

She doesn't like it.

She thinks she's losing it.

Forcing a smile onto her face, she turns to the Dipper-Tree. It no longer horrifies her to look at him, just makes her sad and determined. "Yo. Bro. Hurry up and wake up already. I'm boooored."

No reply.

She didn't expect one.

She pouts and flops down next to the tree again. "Fine, then. Be that way. But you're so going to get it when you wake up!" She pokes at his face once, gently, much more gently than she ever had in her life. "Bwap."

And then it's quiet again.


	2. Boots

**Boots:** When you're the Queen of the Forest, you don't just need the crown. You need the shoes. Too bad your shoes don't last long.

* * *

Mabel stretches her arms above her head. She glances over at Dipper, makes sure his tree isn't about to fall anytime soon, then heads out into the forest. Closer to where the remains of the Mystery Shack is, actually. She can't stay away for long.

She hobbles a bit unsteadily, a bit painfully, with a shoe that's about a half size too small on one foot and nothing but a lost bracelet on her other ankle. That foot is filthy. Brown. Callouses mar the pads of her foot. The other one, as well, from when she was barefoot for a while. But that one's not so bad now that she found a shoe.

Although her walk is the slightest bit unsteady due to the imbalance, Mabel endures the pain with her head held high, daring any of the forest creatures to challenge her.

None do.

Of course not. She's the _Queen_.

She has the crystals on her head and the tapestry around her neck. She has bracelets and rings and necklaces hanging from every place she can. They clink with every bouncing, yet steadfast, step, as though a warning to the rest of the forest.

She comes to the remains of the Mystery Shack. Not much; it's been cleaned up since the fire years before. It's the middle of the night; no one's around. Mabel wanders the grounds, hoping to find another necklace. Or a hat that she can bedazzle. Anything, really.

Being immortal can be dull, and hers is quite lonely as well, so she talks to every squirrel she crosses paths with. She pretends that she's twelve again – _really_ twelve, not forever-twelve – and that she and Dipper and Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford are playing a game. That she's winning, of course, because winning is everything. She makes up the voices for all of them, no longer choked up at the reminder of what she's done – what she has to do. It's been years, and although she missed the way things used to be, she no longer cries every night.

It's in the middle of her game, and near early morning, that Mabel spots them. The boots. They hadn't been there before. Mabel takes a quick glance around before bouncing over to them, eyes wide.

They're _boots_. Sturdy, thick, slightly-worn-but-still-new boots. They're brown and a little big on her, but she puts them on anyway. They're so much more comfortable than her single, ill-fitting shoe. Mabel wipes away a few tears, shaky smile on her face.

"Thank you, Grunkle Stan," she says into the air, knowing that he isn't nearby. He can't be nearby, or she's in trouble. "Thank you, Great Uncle Ford."

Light begins to appear in the sky. Mabel runs into the woods, laughing in surprise, shock, and sadness all in one. She doesn't notice that the footprints she leaves include not just the pattern of the boot, but also a small imprint of two connected question marks attached opposite each other.

Later, two old men follow that imprint in the hopes of finding their lost niece and bringing her home.


End file.
